Headliner OutKast took the stage with a more pertinent query: “Are you ready for the greatest rap group of all time?” It was classic rap hype, and yet as the ensuing 90 minutes proved, the recently reunited duo of Big Boi and Andre 3000 has earned the right to include itself in the ranks of the hip hop elite. Not only did these guys show no rust, they reminded us what made them great since their first album, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, was released 20 years ago: a dynamic and utterly complementary MC team blessed with rare musicality, lyrical ingenuity and stylistic audacity. From frenetic opener Bombs Over Baghdad to the understatedly anthemic Wheelz of Steel, civil rights party jam Rosa Parks and the song that made them a household name, Ms. Jackson, they were at once authoritatively engaging and sonically adventurous. Sure, there were hits, lots – including irresistible genre-bender Hey Ya! (delivered by André 3000 with a line of female fans dancing on stage – cheesy, but effective), sly boast So Fresh, So Clean, and the beautifully sleepy Elevators – but it’s all relative. At its best, OutKast mixed cool and creativity like nobody’s business. [Montreal Gazette]

Taking place over the same weekend as Lollapalooza, and boasting a similarly huge lineup, Montreal’s annual music festival Osheaga went down over this past weekend (August 1-3). The stacked festival included sets from Outkast, Jack White, The Replacements (with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong), Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Modest Mouse, Danny Brown, Mac Demarco, Against Me!, The Dismemberment Plan, Haim and many more. Pictures of some of those artists, and a bunch of others, are in this post.

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